Bologna Boy still full of Bologna

David Paulson, of all people, has a column up at PolitickerMD.com regarding "political courage." Now, never mind the fact that "Maryland Democrat" and "political courage" tend to be oxymoronic, I want to highlight this comment, which highlights why Paulson doesn't get it:

It is easy to whine, gripe, attack and predict disaster is at the doorstep. Having the courage to solve real problems is hard and sometimes costly. After all, there is always someone or some group ready, willing and able to do what's easy.

You're right David, it is easy to whine, gripe, attack and predict disaster. So why, David, do you instinctively defend Martin O'Malley at every turn? All the Governor does is whine about Governor Ehrlich, gripe about how hard his job is, attack anybody who even remotely opposes his bad ideas, and predicts disaster if the people of Maryland don't roll over for his whims, and right now.

And you're right David: having the courage to solve real problems is hard and sometimes costly. I just wish that Maryland Democrats had some of this courage that you speak of, because they sure as hell didn't show it during the General Assembly session. Instead of reducing the size of government and assuring the people of Maryland that our state was under prudent financial stewardship, they instead rubber stamped O'Malley's profligate spending, sticking the citizenry with a higher tax bill as a result. That's certainly not leadership, that is, in fact, doing what's easy. Maryland Democrats are good at that.

Paulson later goes on to say something even more patently absurd:

In the end they couldn't even agree with each other on the Smith Island Cake. Some belittled our new "state cake" as a complete waste of time for a General Assembly facing serious issues. They must have forgotten it was a Republican sponsored bill in the first place.

Paulson forgets three key points:

1. Just because something is sponsored by Republicans doesn't mean it's a good idea. There are a lot of ideas from the moderate wing that aren't exactly beneficial to our side, nor are any number of bills that Republicans sign-on to as co-sponsors at all representative of our ideology;
   
   
2. Republicans actually have the testicular fortitude to call each other out when they go astray: Democrats outside of leadership have been for all intents and purposes been politically neutered in Maryland for some time now; and,
   
   
3. The Smith Island Cake was not the issue for a lot of people; it was Page Elmore's sellout of his vote for O'Malley's profligate budget to get the Smith Island Cake bill passed that was the real key issue.

What's odd is that David Paulson would spend his time kicking us while we were already down. I just wish that Paulson would spend less time psychoanalyzing the Republican side of the aisle, and instead spend more time trying to explain and justify why Martin O'Malley and Maryland's Democratic leadership want to tax Marylanders right out of the state and why these "leaders" want to destroy Maryland's Middle and Working Class Families.

Kevin Maxwell: Smartass

Anne Arundel County School Superintendent Kevin Maxwell decided to respond to John Leopold's budget statement with less comments about how to improve schools, but did plenty to act like a smartass:

And even though he already decided to cut 50 non-teaching positions, he'll have to look at slicing more administrative positions from the school system's central office - all cuts that ultimately will hurt student achievement and his goal of taking county schools "from good to great."

"If you want a Mercedes, you have to pay for a Mercedes," Dr. Maxwell said. "And we didn't even ask for a Mercedes. We asked for a Chrysler, and we got a pogo stick."

Yeah, that's clever. Not as clever, though, as it would be for Maxwell to adequately fund teacher pay and adequately fund classroom development. The fact of the matter is that in the Anne Arundel County School System all of the pork is at the top of the heap. I have talked previously about all of the unnecessary bureaucracy in public schools, all of the unnecessary positions and money tied up in Riva Road as opposed to being in the classroom where it is actually needed. Why does Maxwell insist that he needs to have record-high school funding when, in actuality, we aren't even quite sure what we have exactly with so little money going towards the classroom?

Kevin Maxwell needs to get his fiscal hosue in order....and this is exactly why this was a stupid statement from the School Board Nominating Commission

Another Day, More Reasons

One of the best reasons for an elected school board in Anne Arundel County are encapsulated in this article regarding school budgeting:

Angry County Council members yesterday accused the Anne Arundel County school system of vilifying the county government for the superintendent's proposal to leave 200 teaching positions unfilled, with the council chairwoman blasting school officials for running "one hell of a PR [public relations] scam."

"Whoever's doing your PR over there is doing one heck of a job, not a fair one, but a good job," Council Chairwoman Cathleen M. Vitale scolded the district's top business and human resources officials. "I'm wondering when I will see the press release that says the superintendent cut 200 positions ... so [he] can move forward with other non-core programs and initiatives."

Kudos to Councilwoman Vitale for calling a spade a spade on this one. Something Councilman Ed Reilly also echoed:

Council members insisted they funded 294 new teaching positions last year, and it was the school district's decision to use the money in other ways and pull the funding from such a controversial area as classroom teachers.

"So, even though we told you we want you to use [funding] for teachers, you used it for other things?" Councilman Edward R. Reilly asked the school system's assistant superintendent Gregory V. Nourse, budget director Susan Bowen and human resources director Florie Bozzella.

"We have gotten very little from the school board, which I'm not very happy about," continued Reilly, who called the meeting. "Wish we would've gotten some of the numbers before the news outlets."

The budget battle has everything to do with the call for an elected school board. Let's face it, a School Board appointed by the O'Malley/Leopold Commission is not going to be any more proactive that the current Board in adopting responsible spending that focuses on educating students first and foremost. I have argued for some time that Kevin Maxwell's spending priorities are out of whack with what is necessary in order to properly educate students in core classes and subject matters. The County Council understands this, and is taking steps to address these concerns with the budget. The Board appointed by the O'Malley/Leopold Commission is merely going to gives us more of the same, particularly when one considers that it has been suggested by the Commission that Board members should give the Superintendent carte blanche when it comes to School System Operations.

Kevin Maxwell's fiscal irresponsibility has been tolerated by a majority of the current members of the school Board, and more than likely will also be tolerated by the appointees coming from O'Malley and Leopold's liberal commission. Until we make sure that this Board is elected by the voters of Anne Arundel County, taxpayers will not have their interests represented in School System policymaking and we will see a continuation of recklessly misguided spending from the Board and the Superintendent.

The Recession Proof Economy and other Liberal Economic Myths

Isaac Smith tries to climb his way out of his remarks about the "conservative" General Assembly by making some more odd points, the first of which is by again talking about the myth of a recession proof economy:

Of course, Brian's point (I think) is that the tax increases are exacerbating the recession's effects in Maryland, which is debatable; certainly the Washington suburbs have been doing better than the national average in terms of employment, and Maryland's unique economic features make it more resilient to downturns generally. Things could get worse, however, if the state made the draconian kind of budget cuts that Brian and other Republicans have been clamoring for. As I've noted before, budget cuts during a recession are actually more harmful to the economy than tax increases, since it exacerbates the problem of falling consumption by reducing consumption even further.

And yes, that was the point I was trying to make; that an already bad economic climate is being made worse by Annapolis Democrats. Of course, liberals in Annapolis always try to fall back on the idea that Maryland's economy is recession proof due to the shear number of federal jobs and federal spending that is tied into the Montgomery and Prince George's County suburbs. The fact of the matter remains that despite this "unique economic feature" as Isaac likes to call federal spending, federal workers can also be disproportionately harmed by higher taxes and higher spending at the state level. Just because their jobs are "recession-proof" doesn't mean that the diminution of their purchasing power thanks to higher taxes and the higher price of goods and services is going to be stopped, too.

As far as budget cuts during a reccession harming the economy, that just make little sense. The preponderance of the additional spending proposed an enacted by the O'Malley Administration deals with increasing the size and largesses of government, not the reduction of capital projects that are already budgeted and under contract. This is further exacerbated by the fact that much of the spending cuts and the diminution of purchasing power could have been avoided if spending were cut in the first place since the spending cuts could have provided relief from the "need" for higher and higher taxes. And besides, remember what happened when Roosevelt tried to spend his way out of a massive economic downturn. The type of spending that Isaac suggests is the type of spending that bankrupted the Soviet Union.

I am heartened by the fact that Isaac realizes that the elimination of balanced budget requirements in Maryland is foolhardy, but I could not disagree more with this reasoning:

Ideally, what you would want is for the state to build up its rainy-day fund during boom times and spend it down during bust times (what's known in economic jargon as countercyclical fiscal capacity), so that there's some stability in the functioning of government programs. Unfortunately, Maryland's rainy-day fund went dry in 2007, so that option is closed off.

No, ideally what you want to do is have a government that only takes as much money from its citizenery as it needs to provide the most basic of services; schools, fire, police, etc. I'm pretty sure I didn't volunteer to make an interest free loan to the State Government in order to stash away money for pet projects when times are rough. Should there be a rainy-day fund? Yes, but only for actually fiscal emergencies to meet the most basic of collective services, not just for the sake of out-of-control spenders trying to balance the budget when tax revenues fail to meet expectations.

And finally, we get this:

I'm hoping, then, that if the recession persists, as seems likely, Congress will push for greater federal aid to the states, which would allow programs like Medicaid and unemployment assistance -- which are high in demand during a recession -- to get to more people who need it.

Actually, the last thing we need to do is for Congress to start doling out more money to the states. States should be able to find ways to fund these programs out of their own fiscal houses and not really on additional federal assistance above and beyond what is already in place. The state budget should have adequately prepared for increases in Medicaid and unemployment claims when the General Assembly adopted it last week, but I'm sure that pet projects were more important to legislative leadership than this already existent spending.

The argument that Maryland does not spend enough and that we should continue to maintain current spending levels during the O'Malley Recession flies in the face of responsible government, and I find it hard for Smith and others to continue making spurious arguments for the continuation of this reckless fiscal posture.

O'Chutzpah

Man, this takes either a great deal of guts or a great lack of foresight:

As lawmakers worked Monday to trim state spending to balance Maryland's budget for next year, Gov. Martin O'Malley proposed $18.2 million in new expenditures, much of it earmarked for health care, programs for children with disabilities and a fund to help the poor pay their electricity bills.

O'Malley called for additional general fund spending totaling $28.7 million over the next two years but also proposed significant expenditures relying on special earmarked funds, some of which are nearing approval by the General Assembly.

Seriously. The General Assembly is trying to cut $300 million from the budget, and the Administration is trying to sneak in additionally supplementary funds to pay for things that, realistically, we don't need.

While he makes a hefty salary to do it, I somewhat sympathize with Rick Abbruzzese for having to go defend this:

O'Malley spokesman Rick Abbruzzese defended the governor's submission of a supplemental budget request -- an annual tradition -- at a time when lawmakers are struggling to balance the state budget and repeal an unpopular computer services tax.

"This is a very lean supplemental budget that goes directly to making government more effective and more efficient," Abbruzzese said. He said the governor focused his spending requests on "core services" such as juvenile services, state police and aid for infants and toddlers with learning disabilities.

Of course, the truly lean supplemental budget would have zero dollars contained in it because of some sort of revelation to the Administration that we have a budget crisis.

I wonder what it is finally going to take for somebody on the second floor to understand that Martin O'Malley cannot tax and spend Maryland into prosperity. This continued reckless spending is just continuing to propagate preexisting problems with our state's financial posture. It takes a lot of chutzpah to offer a wasteful supplementary budget when we have a budget shortfall during a recession. But what exactly is it going to take for Democrats in Annapolis to act in a fiscally responsible manner?

Hosing those who can leave, and other fiscal silliness

So, here is the proposed tech tax solution:

Gov. Martin O'Malley and top leaders in the General Assembly are lining up votes for a plan to replace Maryland's new computer services tax with an income tax surcharge on top earners and cuts to transportation and other spending.

The plan has the backing of Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller and Sen. Ulysses Currie, the Prince George's County Democrat who chairs the powerful Budget and Taxation Committee....

....O'Malley, a Democrat, discussed ways to repeal the $200 million levy in a closed-door meeting with legislative leaders Tuesday night. The consensus that emerged was to try to raise $100 million by creating a new income tax bracket of 6.25 percent for people earning more than $1 million, according to those who attended the meeting.

An additional $50 million would come from the state's $400 million Transportation Trust Fund, and the rest from additional budget cuts.

So, we are going to go ahead and try to further fleece those Maryland taxpayers who are simultaneously most able to pay more taxes and able to pick up and move someplace that their tax burden won't be so high? This is what passes for fiscal responsibility in the minds of Maryland Democrats?

What cracks me up even more is the fact that the 6.25 percent tax bracket will be a "temporary" tax bracket. Does anybody really believe that this crew in Annapolis would ever repeal this new bracket?

What's bizarre is the fact that the tax solution calling for a higher tax bracket is now being joined by $300 million in proposed cuts:

House and Senate leaders began this morning to hash out a deal over the fiscal 2009 budget that is expected to include more than $300 million in cuts, although negotiators largely put off until tomorrow discussions over the most contentious funding questions.

"We're making good progress," said Sen. David R. Brinkley, the Senate minority leader from Carroll and Frederick counties, who is one of eight lawmakers on the budget conference committee. "It's a tough budget year, and there are a lot of hard decisions to make across the board."

So far, lawmakers and legislative staffers said, the differences between the spending plans are not as formidable as they have been in previous years. They predicted that much of the rancor over budgetary issues will come not from these negotiations, but from the question of how to make up for a repeal of the sales tax on computer services.

So now we are going to cut more money from the budget than the tech tax would raise, but legislative leadership still wants to replace that money with more taxes? Is that logical?

I hope that the taxpayers of Maryland are paying attention to this charade in Annapolis, because I hope that it is becoming clear to them that their elected leaders in Annapolis don't have the financial interests of the taxpayers first and foremost in their minds.....

Don't lose the point

Let's start off this story by pointing out that Brenda Reiber made a really stupid decision by saying that information she requested was on behalf of the Office of the County Executive. Really, really stupid.

That being said, the fact that legislators are getting so upset with her request leads one to wonder what we are going to find there....

I think that we are all perfectly aware about some of the reimbursable expenses that legislators are allowed to receive from the state. And this includes hotel rooms....even for legislators who live in Anne Arundel County minutes from their homes in their legislative districts.

Which makes you wonder why this was true:

Some lawmakers yesterday called for anyone involved in the request to be fired. Some complained of a political witch hunt.

A witch hunt? Because somebody asked to see expense reports that are public record? Are they serious? Yes, unfortunately, they are. There is not nearly enough transparency when it comes to the expenses racked up by legislators. This is particularly true of legislators from Anne Arundel County: anybody who seriously believes that Delegate Mary Ann Love needs to have a hotel room for 90 days at taxpayer expense when her 22-mile each direction commute is probably shorter than that of many of her District 32 constituents needs to have their head examined.

There is virtually NO good reason (except for maybe issues concerning the weather) for an Anne Arundel County legislator to seek state reimbursement for hotel rooms in Annapolis. It's completely insulting as a taxpayer to see legislators, regardless of political affiliation, live the high life at the Loews or the Marriott in Annapolis while the rest of us mere mortals are subjected to higher taxes and higher costs of living. Sure, I don't have as much of a problem allowing for reimbursable expenses for legislators from the Eastern Shore, or Western Maryland, or even Montgomery County. But when you work in the county you live in, it's just shows embarrassingly poor judgment.

Reiber's judgment is clouded and she should be fired for trying to misuse the authority of the County Executive's office; though I doubt that she will, seeing that she is a donor to his campaign. But we as the taxpaying public should certainly pay more attention to the expenses our legislators rack up on our dollar.

The Sun doesn't learn

The Sun carries the flag again for Governor O'Malley today on the budget issue:

True to his word, Gov. Martin O'Malley yesterday unveiled his plan to keep a lid on overall state spending next year. Even his Republican critics will have to concede that while he may have recently raised taxes, he's not exactly a big spender, at least not in fiscal 2009.

Not only does Mr. O'Malley's proposed $31.5 billion budget fall well within the state's long-standing affordability guidelines, but it also reflects the smallest year-to-year increase in five years. And it does so by broadly reducing the growth of spending, including eliminating tens of millions of dollars in Thornton aid that was due to local school systems in the coming year.

Now, of course, the Sun thinks that this is a good thing

The 4 percent budget increase reflects the unpleasant reality of last year's tax increases - most of it was needed just to keep vital services such as education, transportation, health and public safety at existing levels, not to expand them.

Of course all of us on both sides of the aisle realize that current spending in those core issues need to be adjusted for the rate of inflation.

However, what about the Governor's discretionary spending? What cuts were made, other than 500 jobs that are being eliminated? Other than Sellinger formula money, what other spending levels were held in check as compared to the FY 2008 budget? If discretionary spending remains high, how can O'Malley say that we are in bad fiscal shape?

When you get down to it, the budget is four percent higher than it was last year. Which makes you wonder how anybody could objectively say that the massive historic tax hikes O'Malley and the Democrats just rammed down are thoughts were ever necessary at all.....

Sun back to Mixed Messages

From this morning's op-ed page:

The higher tax would raise about $15 million annually. That's money badly needed to bolster the state's now-minimal tobacco control efforts. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends Maryland spend at least $46.8 million annually to discourage smoking and help users quit, but after recent budget cuts, the state's current program amounts to less than $18 million.

The point of a high tax on cigarettes is not merely to balance the state budget; it's to discourage people from buying them at all. Tobacco use is the single most preventable cause of death and disease in this country. A tax policy that fails to discourage all types of tobacco use demonstrates a disregard for public health.

The Sun, as usual, continues to want to have it both ways. They want to raise tobacco taxes to raise revenue, while at the same time discouraging people from buying tobacco products. Considering that Sun editors already seem to have spent the extra $15 million in taxes they are proposing on these little cigars, can they seriously believe that this is serious policymaking? Do they really believe that the law of diminishing returns constitutes sound fiscal management?

And I repeat something else I have asked before: if the Sun and others believe tobacco to be so dangerous, why do they not call for tobacco products to be outlawed? Is that any more of a "disregard for public health" than raising the taxes on cigarettes (a tax clearly aimed at the lower and middle classes, by the way)...

The Difference is...I'll Respond

So Isaac Smith, who of refused to accept my challenge to a debate, challenged me to cut the budget:

But as you surely know, it's one thing to talk in generalities, and quite another to get down to specifics. So what, Brian, would you cut? Here's the FY2008 budget; have at it. And of course, it's not just enough to propose budget cuts, but you have to demonstrate that these cuts will not impair the ability of the state to carry out its duties in education, in health care, in public safety, etc. You may not think the state has such duties, and that perhaps is the difference between you and me.

Of course, I have the size to actually respond to such a challenge. So read it and weep. And I actually went further than just cutting the budget by reallocating some of the money to where it was actually useful, and by privatizing certain state assets. So what you see here is a net savings of over $3.6 billion. And yes, public secondary education, public safety, and health care are not impacted at all.

I know in fact that the FSP people (who have called me delusional incidentally) will cry and scream that a lot of these things that I am cutting or privatizing are part of the role of government. Except government either should not be doing it in the first place, or certainly is not doing it well right now....

Maxwell still doesn't get it

School Superintendent Kevin Maxwell still doesn't understand that you can't just spend your way to better schools:

Claiming he did everything possible to pare down school spending, Superintendent Kevin M. Maxwell proposed another budget hike for county schools last night.

It's an increase smaller than the one he proposed last year, which led to months of squabbling between county and school officials, and ended up not being fully funded.

"We have scrimped. We have saved," Dr. Maxwell told the county Board of Education in his operating and capital budget presentation. "We have looked at every program and position - every single one - and made some painful decisions that will impact our students."

In a budget presentation punctuated with recognitions and applause for groups of students and schools staff, the superintendent asked for $99.9 million more in his operating budget than he received from the state and county last year. The fiscal 2008 budget was about an 8 percent increase from the previous year.

If this year's spending plan is fully funded, it will bring the total schools operating budget to $968.8 million.

Yes, we have nearly Billion-Dollar Babies in our public schools according to Maxwell's proposed budget, which is available online here and I'll be reviewing that in the near future to see where Maxwell continues to insist on wasting money.

Two things make Maxwell's yearly beg-a-thon disheartening to myself and many other Anne Arundel County residents.

First, Maxwell refuses to reconsider the course of actions before spending any money. Every year, Maxwell requests gigantic spending increases without either proving the demonstrable need for such increases, or whether or not the programs he wishes to continue funding are being effective. We get higher and higher spending requests every year without any consideration as to if what our schools are doing is actually working to educate our students better. I would also be willing to bet that the high administrative overhead also remains in this year's budget as well, much as it did last year's.

Second, this once again reinforces the need for an elected School Board in Anne Arundel County. John Leopold likes to complain about the Superintendent and this Board's lack of fiscal reality, yet he continues to wish that the population has no input on the School Board selection process. Leopold's beloved School Board appointment plan that he helped shepherd through the General Assembly is going to make an existing problem worse, as the majority of new members appointed by Governor O'Malley will share O'Malley's "politics first, unions second, education last" philosophy of school board administration. And we already have that problem when you consider some of the knuckleheaded things Eugene Peterson says:

Board member Eugene Peterson called the superintendent's plan "bare-bones."

"We must honor our contracts," he said. "If we don't, we'll lose all credibility and our competitive edge, and we can't do that. Good education costs money."

Our school system selection process lost credibility when the public had it's right to participate taken away by a Governor and a County Executive who want to remove parents and taxpayers from having influence on who sits on our board. But furthermore, having credibility and a competitive edge when it comes to public schools has nothing to do with money and everything to do with curriculum and methods. If this oft-repeated adage about buying our way to better schools were true, why do politicians and muckity-mucks in the District of Columbia ( tops in per pupil spending) always send their kids to private schools?

These issues regarding spending, spending priorities, curriculum issues, and teaching methods all come back down to who selects the school board. With the current O'Malley/Leopold system in place, we know that future members of the School Board will place educational achievement at the lowest level of priority, choosing to protect the teacher's union and protecting liberal teaching methods and political causes first and foremost. Because O'Malley and Leopold have insisted that parents, teachers, and taxpayers should not have the right to vote for a School Board of their own choosing, this kind of nonsense will continue to be all to common in the future.

We always come back to economics, don't we?

The left still doesn't get it. Eric Luedtke (who as you know, refuses to debate me on the issue of which party is better for working families and the middle class) still doesn't comprehend that the unhappiness with the sales tax on computer services is part of a larger problem:

Momentum seems to be building for the Assembly to revisit the haphazard expansion of the sales tax to computer services and no other services during the special session. No one seems to be particularly happy with that outcome. Put simply, there was no fair standard applied, and computer services was picked largely because it fit a hole in the package.

So what are the options? 1. Eliminate the computer services sales tax and add nothing else, which leaves another hole in the budget. 2. Drop computer services but apply the sales tax to other industries (there are dozens of services not currently taxed, even beyond those discussed during the special session). But then you have the same problem of explaining why one or more industries are taxed while others aren't. Or 3. Apply a smaller (1-2%) sales tax to a broad range of service industries.

And for the billionth time, Luedtke again misses the most obvious answer; eliminate the entire sales tax hike, and cut state spending. Luedtke seems to think that the most important thing to fix in regards to the computer services tax is to just fix that particular portion of tax.

What he fails to realize is that the thing that is most important to the economy, and most important to Marylanders is trying to take proactive steps to make Maryland more livable and more affordable to working families. The only way to do that is to cut state spending and eliminate the draconian tax increases that Maryland Democrats subjected to the middle and working classes. Only then can Maryland's economy be allowed to less encumbered in this difficult economy, and only than can Maryland's families be able to better reap the fruits of their labor. Only then can the chains constraining our economic growth be removed.

The General Assembly needs to go back to Annapolis and put Maryland's working families first, and the only way they can do that is to roll back the unfair taxes that Maryland's taxpayers will soon be subjected to....

Do the Math

You don't say:

Despite the tax increases and spending cuts approved in last month's special legislative session, legislative analysts see another possible budget shortfall looming by fiscal year 2010.

The projected deficit is $237 million. It is projected to grow by another $26 million the following year.

And on top of the historically massive tax increases, O'Malley and the General Assembly added $500 million in new spending.

So...is it safe to say that Governor O'Malley has officially spent us into a deficit, or should we wait for Administration and General Assembly inaction to set in before we make the proclamation?

Government Operating Outside its Scope....Again

Can somebody explain to me what the hell a Sailing Hall of Fame has to do with the Maryland Stadium Authority? That seems to be the entire problem in building a new Sailing Hall of Fame in Annapolis is that the State seems to be in the middle of it, where it naturally does not belong:

State involvement through the Stadium Authority is completely out of line, but not out of recent practices for the authority. The Stadium Authority was originally created to build Camden Yards and then build what eventually turned into M&T Bank Stadium. Of course the scope wound up going much farther than that, though I guess if you squint a university Commons Building kinda looks like a Stadium.

Furthermore, does anybody really think that downtown Annapolis needs a Sailing Hall of Fame smack in the middle of it? It seems to me that this would be the kind of urban renewal project that so disturbs a historic area that it would be the kind of thing that Democrats would hate to see in place. I mean, I certainly don't want the view of City Dock disturbed by the construction of some monstrous, unnecessary building. But of course, Annapolis Mayor Ellen Moyer loves the concept, even if there is likely no discernible economic benefit to the city from its construction. There is certainly no benefit to state taxpayers who seem like they are going to get stuck with part of the bill.

The only way to fix this is through two solutions. The short term solution is to pull state funding for the construction of this Hall of Fame complex and allow it to continue only with the use of private money. Second, the General Assembly needs to legislatively remove the ability of the Maryland Stadium Authority to build new projects, thus restricting them to managing the projects currently under their purview until the facilities can be privatized.

For more info on the Sailing Hall of Fame and it's relationship to our Capital City, my Red Maryland colleague Brian Gill has an excellent post on the matter.

Nothing to be proud of

Speaker Mike Busch seems to be happy with himself if you believe this quote:

"The governor took it all on his shoulders, and the legislature pretty much followed. . . . We've basically, in my estimate, taken a full legislative year of work and condensed it into 20 days."

I'm not sure what is more offensive to the process of representative government, that the Speaker is proud that the Legislative Branch took its marching orders from the Executive Branch, or that the Legislative Branch basically inflicted a number of financial calamities on the taxpayers of the state without due and thoughtful consideration.

Senate Minority Leader David Brinkley is much more accurate:

"Common sense and reason went out the window just to give the governor a victory...I think this whole thing has been a debacle, and taxpayers are stuck holding the bill."

I think that the Senator was being polite by merely calling it a debacle. It reality, what we have just been witness to is one of the more crass victories of special interests over taxpayers that we have seen in our state. To the legislative leadership, it was more important to make the Governor look good, to grow the size of government, and to make sure taxpayers have less money in their pockets than it was to do what was right and what was proper.

Maryland Democrats manufactured a crisis of their own failures. And as we warned repeatedly, we the taxpayers get shafted....

Good News, Bad News on Spending Cuts

Well, let's start off with the good news:

House budget writers Monday identified nearly $500 million in potential savings in next year's budget, including recommendations to freeze inflation increases in the state's Thornton education funding plan, eliminate vacant state jobs, and tap surplus funds in the state health insurance fund.

"We're at a point where some very, very tough decisions have to be made," said Norman H. Conway, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, before the committee approved the bill to reduce spending by $498 million in the fiscal year 2009 budget.

The full House of Delegates takes up the proposed cuts Tuesday as part of the General Assembly's special session to close a $1.7 billion budget gap for the next fiscal year.

I mean don't get me wrong, it's a start, albeit it far from anything close to what should be happening in regards to budget cuts. But it appears that the Democrats in the House had a Eureka! moment sometime in the last few days and realized that if they are going to pillage the people with massive tax hikes, maybe they should at least make the appearance of trying to get their own spending house in order.

Steve Schuh, one of my very own delegates, made good points on the budget as usual:

Del. Steve Schuh, an Anne Arundel County Republican, said that while he supported the final bill in committee, he would like to have seen spending curtailed even more.

He also criticized the deficit-reduction plan being crafted by Democrats because it would raise a variety of taxes and relies on revenue from legalized slot-machine gambling that wouldn't kick in for several years. The slots proposal would be put to voters in a November 2008 referendum if the legislation passes.

"If you blow it on spending restraint and if you blow it on slots, you're backed into a fiscal corner of having to raise taxes in a very big way to balance the budget," Schuh said.

But of course, this is not the land of milk and honey. Because some of our own people are complaining; yes, some Republican Delegates are complaining about cuts!

But other Republican legislators Monday balked at some of the small spending reductions.

Del. Susan L.M. Aumann, a Baltimore County Republican, opposed a measure to keep grants to private colleges at the current fiscal year amount, which would save the state $3.4 million. She expressed concern that more students will leave Maryland to attend private colleges.

As I noted a few days ago, the $62 million grant in the Sellinger Formula to private colleges is ridiculous in the first place. Del. Aumann's consternation at a $3.4 million cut to Sellinger aid is disturbing, because it makes me wonder if some of our own Republican Delegates are committed merely to only opposing tax cuts: that these legislators, in actuality, support the continued feeding of this governmental beast.

$500 million in cuts are a good thing. Let's find another $1.5 billion and get this tax hike off of the backs of Maryland's working families...

The Brian Griffiths Minute: Saturday Night Massacre edition

What you might not know...

What neither the hard copy Sun nor the Sun's website are telling you is that HB2 and HB5 passed third reader last night...when the House came into session at 11:07 PM and adjourned at 1:22 AM this morning.

Again, by holding major votes in the middle of the night, the legislative leadership clearly has nothing to hide, right?

The Saturday Night Massacre

I'm just postulating this out loud, but if the leadership of the General Assembly was truly interested in being above board with their attempted pilfering of the pocketbooks of Maryland taxpayers, then why is the House of Delegates in session on a Saturday night on a holiday weekend? Seriously. HB2, the so-called "Tax Reform Act of 2007" and HB5, the so-called "Transportation Investment Act, both passed second reading tonight in the House. The House adjourned at 10:36 PM and was to return nine minutes later.

If those favoring these ridiculous tax increases truly believe in pilfering the taxpayers, there would be no need to ramrod these massive tax hikes through when nobody was looking...

Oh, and another thing....

Memo to Sens. Astle, DeGrange, Dyson, Kramer and Zirkin: for not having the courage to support the filibuster, the tax hikes are your fault. Nobody cares that you didn't vote for the bill on its third reading. Everybody cares that you allowed the third reading vote to happen....

State Senate to Taxpayers: Get Bent

That's really the message here. Having scores of constituents call in opposing taxes seems to not be a good enough reason to, you know, listen to the constituents. We must give more money to a government that wastes it, and we must expand a government that is already too big.

With the State Senate completely ignoring the voice of their constituents, methinks that a tax revolt is on the horizon...and soon.

It still doesn't register

Young Master Kujan still doesn't understand the econ of this:

Is it grounds to support a reactionary filibuster that could lead to bankrupting the state? Of course not.

So...on what grounds does Young Master Kujan believe that we should support additional government spending that will lead to bankrupting the state?

I'm telling you, we need to run a remedial economics class for these urban liberals...

In case you have haven't seen the Citizens United ad...

It's now on YouTube:

BREAKING: Leopold talks AA Delegation into Electricity Tax deal

An inside source tells me that John Leopold sweet-talked the Anne Arundel County Delegation into getting a amendment to the new Electricity Tax that would allow the county to collect up to $28 million from the power generators located in the county.

More as this develops....

Two days, two sensible observations from Senator Brochin

On my way to a doctor's appointment I heard State Senator Jim Brochin take about the Sellinger Formula. If you are not familiar with the formula, the Sellinger Formula is the state aid that is given to private colleges and universities throughout Maryland. Yes, you heard that right, state aid to private colleges and universities. This link from the Maryland Independent College and University Association will help you familiarize yourself with the pro-Sellinger position.

Senator Brochin noted on C4's show that the $62 million in state aid being distributed through the Sellinger Formula is something that we cannot afford as a state at this point, particularly when the Democratic leadership is talking about massive tax increases.

Kudos to Senator Borchin for this sensible and sensical observation. Schools that choose to be private colleges and universities should not receive state aid whatsoever. And as the graduate of such a private college (you know, the one that made the stupid decision to change its name) I heartily support the idea of eliminating Sellinger funding, particularly in light of observations made in my undergraduate experience of the usage of that funding for anything but need-based scholarships and assistance.

Kujan: Take it from the Middle Class, they don't need it....

While trashing State Senator Jim Brochin for listening to his constituents, Andrew Kujan unleashes this gem:

Of course, this is not unexpected from Senator Brochin, as he has worked with Republicans before to filibuster needed income tax increases. Forget the fact that perhaps if Brochin would have worked to pass these earlier increases, Maryland wouldn't find ourselves so deep in the hole.

What math genius Kujan fails to realize is that these taxes are anything but "needed." Maybe if O'Malley and the rest of the left wingers didn't try to spend us back to the stone age, and maybe if the Democrats didn't try to spend more than we have, maybe we wouldn't find ourselves in a hole? Maybe? Just maybe?

Of course, that would be sacrilege because Kujan and other urban liberals likes to see the state government confiscate the hard-earned money of Maryland's Lower and Middle Classes in exchange for no return. It's appalling that Kujan believes that government should help make the lower and middle classes poorer to fund his precious government programs...

Dodgeball!

Despite on not one, but two occasions endorsing the idea before, John Leopold is now dodging questions about his support of the O'Malley tax hikes:

Last week, County Executive John R. Leopold did not attend a rally by the Maryland Association of Counties that supported the tax increases. When asked about his position on the tax plan, Mr. Leopold's staff said he had no comment. In the past, Mr. Leopold has campaigned as a fiscal conservative hesitant to raise taxes and committed to eliminating government waste.

I think Team Leopold is trying to avoid the issue because clearly Leopold supports the tax hikes and doesn't want to explicitly say so when backed into a corner.

If John Leopold were honest....well, it would be the first time. But if he were being honest, he would come out and say that he supports the O'Malley tax hikes despite his long-time supposed opposition to raising taxes (his prior tax hike proposals notwithstanding, of course...)

A Golden Oldie from the Soviet Years

Today is starting to look a lot like yesterday (H/T Instapundit):

Hundreds of students and state railway workers were ordered to attend demonstrations in Russia calling for Vladimir Putin to stand for an illegal third term as president, according to documents seen by the Guardian.

Regional government officials demanded that schools in Tver region and railway departments in Novosibirsk provided pupils and employees to cheer for the president at Soviet-style rallies in recent weeks.

Prosecutors are examining official telegrams laying out requirements for attendance at the rallies. The papers were uncovered by opposition politicians and appear to be a blatant breach of electoral law.

Aren't you glad that people wouldn't stoop so far as to use students and state employees for abjectly political purposes here in the states? Oh...wait a minute:

Students and education leaders from around the state rallied in Lawyers Mall this afternoon in support of Gov. Martin O'Malley's revenue proposals.

University System of Maryland Chancellor William E. Kirwan said O'Malley's plan, which includes restructuring taxes and is contingent upon the legislature approving slot machine gambling, would create the "first dedicated source of money for higher education in the state's history."

"This is a bold vision for our future," Kirwan said to the crowd of placard-waving students clad in their college sweatshirts. "They don't just want to pay the bills and balance the budget; they want to invest in our future, in health care and in higher education."

I'm so glad that all of these state employees came to Annapolis during working hours to attend these rallies. And I sure am glad as a taxpayer that public colleges and universities were open today to not educate these students who skipped out to beg for their parents to pay higher taxes.

Like the lack of support for Putin's third term, does any taxpayer in the state who is not:

1. A Democratic Party apparatchik;
2. A state employee who reports to a Democratic Party apparatchik;
3. A Union leader;
4. A student "encouraged" to participate in a rally; or,
   
5. A Baltimore Sun editorial board writer,
   

support these massive tax hikes? Is that why these educators and students had to be goaded into participating in a rally, much like union members were goaded into rallying Monday?

I ask this seriously: is there any truly germane popular support for these tax increases outside of the Democratic ivory tower in Annapolis?

It starts tomorrow

Annapolis' long-awaited version of budgetary Armageddon comes to town tomorrow. And let's face it: other than the fact that taxpayers are about to get hosed, we don't really know what is going to happen. If legislative Democrats reverse four-years of precedent under the Ehrlich Administration and decide to support a slots package, the entire session could be over relatively quickly. Mike Miller will likely allow most of the O'Malley tax package through the Senate. In that case, we will see slots, and we will see higher income and sales taxes, to say nothing of the expansion of services and items covered by the sales tax.

But if the slots bill is a no go, the General Assembly will likely go the full thirty-day distance. I see no way that the legislative leadership and the O'Malley Administration will be able to come together on a deal. The O'Malley folks want there to be a consensus on the issue with the leadership, but the O'Malley idea of consensus is everybody agreeing to do what the Governor wants. Given the fact that this leadership style is even more defiant of legislative wishes than even the Ehrlich Administration, O'Malley is risking a lot of political capital on something that is nowhere close to being a sure thing.

My prediction for the session? Nothing gets done, O'Malley's position is seriously compromised, and he finds himself incredibly vulnerable to a primary challenge in 2010, to say nothing of increasing the likelihood of a Republican victory in the 2010 gubernatorial election.

Fuzzy Math

How come that during a structural deficit of $1.5 billion does Governor O'Malley think the public is going to buy a new half-billion dollar entitlement program?

Governor O'Malley must have a quite a low opinion of the intelligence of Maryland taxpayers if he thinks that they will let this pass by without comment. The